PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

MUST-KNOW STORY LINES

Louisville has an issue with outside shooting. For all the deserved optimism about Louisville’s national title chances, the Cardinals lack a shooter who is both prolific and accurate. Rick Pitino has relied more on the 3-point goal than any coach, so this is significant. Reserve Russ Smith hit 41 3s last year but shot only 30.6 percent. The rest of the returning players made 37 combined. There are shooters with potential, and that’ll probably be enough, but this is a concern.

Mick Cronin isn’t getting enough credit. When hired at Cincinnati, he essentially had no roster. In six years, he got the Bearcats into the Big East Tournament final and the NCAA Sweet 16. It’s one of the most impressive coaching achievements of the past decade—and who has noticed?

MCW should be a breakout star. Stuck behind Scoop Jardine and Dion Waiters, Syracuse’s Michael Carter-Williams scored only 70 points last season. But he has big-time talent and must be great for Syracuse to exit the Big East in style.

The pressure is on Pitt’s backcourt. The Panthers’ inability to stop the ball was a huge issue last season; they ranked 151st in defensive efficiency. Two of three perimeter starters return (small forward Lamar Patterson and point guard Tray Woodall), but it’s hard to imagine Jamie Dixon sitting pat if they struggle again. Newcomer James Robinson could be an upgrade in the backcourt.

Goodbye, South Bend. If this is Notre Dame’s last season in the league, the nine teams that stop through the Joyce Center will be only too happy to say goodbye to the place. There’s almost no way to get to South Bend easily, almost nowhere to eat, almost nowhere nice to stay, almost no chance to beat the Irish at home. ND was 16-1 at home last season, 6-11 everywhere else.

South Florida has a treasure of a point guard. The Bulls’ Anthony Collins can make a case for the league’s most valuable player and certainly is the find of coach Stan Heath’s recruiting career. Heath was a perennial hot-seat selection before Collins came along and directed USF to a fourth-place league finish, the program’s first two NCAA Tournament victories—and a contract extension for the coach. Collins brings definition to the Bulls’ offense, which could still use a scorer or two, and is a tenacious on-ball defender.

Georgetown’s offense could depend on a freshman. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera fits the Georgetown prototype of a guard who looks like he could play outside linebacker, but he is as skilled as any Hoyas backcourt recruit since Chris Wright. The Hoyas lost their only three double-figure scorers from last season, so they’ll need somebody who can make a basket. Freshmen don’t always storm into the Georgetown lineup, but if Smith-Rivera doesn’t score, who will?

The rebuilding continues at St. John’s. The Red Storm have almost an entirely new roster. Again. The good news is coach Steve Lavin is back in place, feeling closer to 100 percent and eager to resume coaching after taking a year away from the bench to recover from prostate cancer surgery. He will miss assistant Mike Dunlap, a teacher of the game so impressive the Charlotte Bobcats hired him away to be their head coach.

It could be time for Rutgers to make a move. Kansas State transfer Wally Judge could give the Scarlet Knights a legit frontcourt and ought to improve the team’s dismal rebounding. That might make everyone else’s jobs easier.

The league is not dead. Seven of the teams that will be in the reformulated Big East next season have reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 since 2007. Even after swiping two such teams from the Big East, the mighty ACC has only six.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Peyton Siva, Louisville. He has more than his share of doubters for someone who has been named the Big East Tournament MVP and led his team to the Final Four. The questions could be rooted in the fact the Cardinals went only 10-8 in conference games last season but perhaps more so in his 3.4 turnovers per game. In the NCAA Tournament, though, he countered his 15 turnovers with 31 assists. Not everything he creates is wonderful, but he does create, and that ability to conjure opportunities is what separates average point guards from those who do it best.

ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

PG - Michael Carter-Williams, Soph., Syracuse. So many upperclassmen have left—at SU, and in the league—there’s room for a gifted young player to make an impact.

PG - Anthony Collins, Soph., South Florida. Where would USF be without him? Where they’d always been, buried beneath a lot of more familiar Big East names.

PG - Peyton Siva, Sr., Louisville

SG - Sean Kilpatrick, Jr., Cincinnati. He hit only 37.6 percent of his 3-pointers last year, but that should increase as the Bearcats’ tempo does.

C - Gorgui Dieng, Jr., Louisville. His offensive game has grown, but even without scoring he’ll change games with his defensive dominance.

BEST OF THE BIG EAST

Shooter: Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati

Passer: Vincent Council, Providence

Penetrator: Peyton Siva, Louisville

Shot-blocker: Gorgui Dieng, Louisville

Leader: Peyton Siva, Louisville

Defender: Gorgui Dieng, Louisville

NBA prospect: Otto Porter, Georgetown

Freshman: Steven Adams, Pitt

Rebounder: Jack Cooley, Notre Dame

Transfer: Luke Hancock, Louisville (from George Mason)

Coach: Rick Pitino, Louisville

Recruiter: Mike Hopkins, Syracuse

Home-court advantage: Joyce Center, Notre Dame

FIVE BEST GAMES

Dec. 31 - Cincinnati at Pitt. If anyone wondered whether the remaining members would get a break over those departing, the fact the Bearcats are on the road to open the conference schedule should answer that.

Jan. 21 - Georgetown at Notre Dame. The Hoyas could do a lot to help their NCAA resume by winning at the league’s toughest place to play.